Flipper for feed mechanism of hydraulic presses.



W. P. BETTENDORP, DEGD.

J. w. BBTTBNDOBF, ADMINISTRATOR. FLI'PPBR FOR FEED MEGHANISM 0F BYDRAULIGYPRESSES.

' APPLOATION FILED HAYE, 1911.

Patented June 11, 1912.

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W. P. BETTENDORP, DECD.

J. w. BETTENDORP, ADMINISTRATOR.

FLIPPER POR FEED MBGHANISM 0F HYDRAULIC PRESSES.

` PPLIUATION FILED HAYE, 1911.

1,028,987. Patented June 11, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPM 1:0.,wAsrllNu'r0N. D. c.

W. P. BETTENDORP, DECD.

J. w. BBTTBNDORP, ADMINISTRATOR.

FLIPPER FOR FEED MBGHANISM 0F HYDRAULIC PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1911.

Patented June 11, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.Y

WILLIAM P. BETTENDORF, DECEASED, LATE 0F BETTENDORF, IOWA, BY JOSEPH W. BETTENDORF, ADMINISTRATOR.

FLIPPER FOR FEED MECHANISM OF HYDRAULIC PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1912.

Original application filed October 25, 1909, Serial No. 524,467. Divided and this application filed May 8, 1911. Serial No. 625,865.

To CLU whom it may concern.'

Be it known that IVILLIAM I). BETTEN- noni, deceased, late a citizen of the United States, residing at Bettendorf, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, did invent certain new and useful Improvements in Flippers for Feed Mechanism of Hydraulic Presses, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to feed trucks and similar mechanism employed to support one end of the work while the same is being fed to a metal working machine, such as a hydraulic press, and pertains more particularly to the trucks for handling and feeding mechanism such as are shown and described in the pending application for Letters Patent of the United States, tiled by lVilliam l. Bettendorf, deceased, October 25, 1909, Serial No. 524,467, (Case 164), of which this application is a division.

In the aforesaid application, as in the present instance, one of the chief objects of the invention is to avoid, as much as possible, the manual handling of the work, and to perform the same mechanically, thus resulting in a material reduction in the eX- pense of labor'. The principal object of the present invention is to provide automatic means for shifting or moving the work such as a rolled metal beam from a horizontal position on the truck to a vertical or standing position thereon, the same being accomplished through the medium of a mechanically operated device which, for the purpose of convenience has been termed a flipper.77

A further object of this invention is to so arrange the parts of the device that it is capable of being operated or controlled by the workman, or his assistant, from his position alongside the press.

These and other objects I accomplish by the means and in the manner hereinafter fully described and as more particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which rp Figure l is a front elevation of a shifting mechanism such as hereinbefore mentioned, showing the improved flipper operatively connected thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical end elevation illustrating the position assumed by the flipper when the beam is engaged in a horizontal position. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section of the flipper portion of the truck showing the relative positions assumed by the parts when the beam is vertically disposed. Figs. 4 and 5 are detailed views of the grapple used in connection with the improved flipper. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatical view showing in section the pneumatic means for actuating the piston in the cylinder of the flipper. Figs. 7 and 8 are similar views of a modified construction of the grapple, drawn in side elevation and edge elevation.

In the drawings, I have not shown the hydraulic press as it is unnecessary to describe the same in detail. Suiiice it to say, that the press comprises the usual upper and lower dies and I have, as shown in the drawing, selected a comparatively high I-beam, suoli as those employed in the construction of rolled metal underframings for railway cars and the like to exemplify the operation of my improvements.

The truck upon which my invention is adapted to be mounted comprises two or more transverse bolsters, having bearings in their lower portions for the journals of suitable wheels B, B', that support the truck on a narrow gage track (not shown) laid longitudinally from one end of the press. These bolsters are usually two in number and are preferably made in two sections, A and B, bolted together in a vertical plane, the front and rear bolsters are adjustably connected together by means of a reach C, (preferably an I-beam) that is secured in place on a suitable seat formed in the abutting edges of said bolster-sections by transverse bolts or otherwise. The bolster-sections are irregular' in shape; that is, the seetion B on one side of the reach C is narrower than the section A on the opposite side thereof, while the latter is wider and has its upper horizontal edge in a plane below the upper horizontal edge of the former, substantially as shown in the drawings. The means (a cylinder and a piston y) employed to move the truck toward or from the press is the same as that described in the pending application hereinbefore referred to, and needs no further description herein.

lVhen it is desired to place the I-beam upright, it is turned so that its web will be in a. vertical plane, and its lower flanges rest upon the upper edges of bolster sections A, A, and when it4 is desired to place said beam in a horizontal position, it is turned so that its web rests upon the top edges of the bolsters above said shoulder. In order to hold said beam in an upright. position, or, in a horizontal position, according as desired, and to turn the same from one.po sition to the other, 1 have provided a device commonly known as a flipperx7 This consists of a cylinder Q, having trunnions 3, 3, about its center of length, that are journaled in bearings in the outer ends of suitably shaped brackets Je, t, which latter are secured to and project laterally from the web of the reach C, just back of the forward holsters. The position of the cylinder is such that its upper end is below the plane of the lower horizontal portion of the top edges of bolster sections A, and it. is pro vided with a piston 5, wl'iose upper end has a suitable grappling device securely mounted thereon, as will hereinafter be more fully described. The piston is provided with a piston-head on its inner end, and in order to actuate it, both the uppe' end and the lower end of the cylinder have a port 6, T, therein, respectively. A ftexible pipe 8 connects the upper port G with a longitudinally disposed con'ipressed airtube 9, and a flexible pipe 10 connects the lower air tube 12. Tubes t) and 12 are preferably secured by means of suitable brackets to the web of' the reach, and extend from end to end of the truck through scc tions A. The forward ends of tubes 9 and 1Q are provided with heads having packed guide-openings for the telescopic passage therethrough of stationary pipes 12, and 1-1'. respectively, which latter extend longitudinally toward the press and at a convenient point are connected to a four-way valve 11. by means of which compressed-air may be supplied to one pipe 13, and from thence to tube El in transit to the top of the cylinder, and the air exhausted from the opposite end of the cylinder through flexible pipe 10, tube 12 and pipe 14, or vice versa, regardless of the direction in which the truck is moving.

The grapple on the upper end of piston consists of two men'ibcrs Y15 and 1G each of which is pivoted atl one end to a transverse bolt 17 suitably secured in the ends of corresponding bifurcations of a boss 18 which is secured to the end of said piston Member 15 is provided with an overhanging or hooked edge 19 farthest from its pivot, and the channel made b v said hook is adapted to fit over and embrace the edge of the adjacent lower flange of the I-beam it is particularly designed to hold. Member 1G is conside yably longer than the melnbcr 15, and, preferably comprises two link-shaped parts, the end of which farthest from its pivot is provided with L-shaped or hook `shaped fingers 2() which, when the grapple is in operation, are adapted to tit over and embrace the longitudinal edge of the flange opposite that embraced by the edge of member 15. The knuckles of the hook-shaped fingers 20, of member lo, are connected by a transverse bolt 21, and this bolt, between the link-shaped parts of said member 16, has the eye on the end of a bolt 212 surrounding the same. The barrel of this bolt extends through a suitable opening in the center of member 15, in a plane parallel to the base of the beam, and has a wheelshaped nut 23 on its screw-threaded end Q4 by tightening which the hooked ends of the said member grasps and firmly holds the adjacent flanged edge of thc beam between them. Yhen this grappling device has been attached to the basal flanges of the beam. and piston 5 is at the lilnit of its down vard stroke, the said beam will be securely held in an upright position on the truck as it advances to the press, while being operated upon in said press, and while being withdrawn from the same. Of course, it will be understood that the constrlwtion of the lower die will greatly contribute toward holding the beam against any independent movement while being operated upon, but this result is greatly aided by the grapple. When it is desired to turn the beam. as. for instance` when it is desired to punch or cut or shape the web thereof', the compressed air is permitted to enter the lower end of the cylinder and the piston 5 moves upward and pushes and raises the beam upward at such an angle that it tilts over onto the transverse friction roller 2l() journaled in a recess in the upper angle of the shoulder of the bolster and assumes a horizontal position and rests upon the upper horizontal edge of the bolster above the shoulder, in which position, if desired, the grapple may be rcn'loved. and an overhead crane utilized to remove the beam from the truck. 1f desired, the beam, when disposed upon the truck may be placed horizontally upon the upper edges of the holsters. in the position hereinbcfore explained, and then thc grape ple be attached thereto and the I-beam drawn down into the vertical position.

In Figs. 11 and 12 show a modified construction of the means carried by the upper end of the piston for grasping the lower flanges of the I-beam. This consists of a clamping member 31 which, looking at it from the front end of the truck, is Z- shaped, and is pivoted at about its lower angle between the arms of the head 1S secured to the upper end of the piston. The end of the upper horizontal part of this member 31 is flanged upward and backward to provide an inverted L-shaped flange 3Q, and the outer surface of its lower horizontal part is provided With a horizontal central T-shaped tenon 25. The other member 26 consists simply of a straight jaw the lower edge of which is provided with a T-shaped groove that engages the T-shaped tenon ln the plane of the upper surface of the upper partof member 31, member 26 is provided with a` transverse groove Q7 which is complementary to the channel produced by the overhanging flange 32, and is designed to embrace the longitudinal edge of the fiange of the I-beam opposite that embraced by the flange 32. Member 26 is adjusted to and from member 31 by means of a screw Q8 Whose outer end is preferably provided with a hand-wheel Q9 and Whose barrel passes through member 2G into a tapped opening at right angles to the opposing surface of the central vertical portion of member 31.

lVhat- I claim as new is t- 1. Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a traveling support for work, a single rocking cylinder transverse to said Work and movable therewith, and a piston therefor the outer end of which is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of said Work.

Q. Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a suitable traveling support for work, a single cylinder transverse to said work and movable therewith, and a piston the outer end of which is jointed and is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of said Work.

3. Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a suitable traveling support for work, a single cylinder transverse to said work, and a piston the outer end of which is jointed and is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of said work, and pipe connections carried by said support for supplying and exhausting the actuating medium to and from said cylinder. I

4. Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a suitable traveling support for work, a single rocking cylinder arranged transverse to said Work, and a piston the outer' end of which is jointed and is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of said Work7 and flexible pipe connections carried by said support for supplying and exhausting the actuating medium to and from said cylinder.

Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a traveling support for Work, a single cylinder carried by said support and arranged transverse to said Work, a piston the outer end of' which is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of the Work, and means carried by said support for supplying the actuating medium to and exhausting it from said cylinder.

6. Mechanism of the kind. specified comprising a traveling support for Work, a single cylinder carried by said support and arranged transverse to said vvork, a piston the outer end of which is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of the Work, and telescopic means one melnber of which is carried by said support for supplying the actuating medium to and exhausting it from said cylinder.

7. Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a traveling support for Work7 a` single rocking cylinder carried by said support arranged transverse to said Work, a piston the outer end of which is adapted to be removably secured to and alter the position of the Work, telescopic means one member of which is carried by said support for supplying the actuating medium to and exhausting it from said cylinder', and flexible pipes connecting said means to said cylinder.

S. Mechanism of the kind specified comprising a support for Work, a cylinder pivotally connected to said support, a piston therefor the outer end of which is adapted to be removably secured to and anchor said Work or alter' the position thereof.

Signed at Bettendorf, Scott county,Io\va, April 29th 1911.

JOSEPH NV. BETTENDORF, Administrator of the estate of llf'z'llz'mn I.

Bettemlorf, deceased. \Vitnesses H. B. FRENIER, HENRY BELLINGHAUSEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

